You didn’t think Landon Donovan would prove a dud in what possibly was his final soccer game as a professional, did you?

Oh sure, the signs were there for the greatest player this country has ever produced.

Last year, his 72nd-minute goal with assists from Robbie Keane and David Beckham was the difference at MLS Cup 2011 for the Galaxy’s victory over the Houston Dynamo. And he became MLS Cup MVP.

This year an uncharacteristically glaring Donovan miss with the goal yawning before him in the 13th minute, naturally, and set up by the prescient Keane and Beckham passes appeared likely to define MLS Cup 2012 as Houston took a 1-0 lead at halftime.

He also risked becoming an MLS Cup goat.

If Donovan does indeed retire from the sport in the offseason as he has hinted, it would have become almost too bizarre to contemplate that a player known for his striking prowess during a glittering career also would be remembered for a high-profile and possibly costly howler in his professional finale.

Donovan had a goal or assist in 10 of his last 14 MLS games coming into Saturday’s MLS Cup.

And he had scored four goals in five MLS Cup appearances before this year’s, more than any other player.

Would history prove irrelevant? Would recent form fail as a harbinger of things to come?

Hardly.

Donovan’s go-ahead, 65th-minute goal from the spot kick – and the Galaxy’s second in five minutes – brought the Dynamo’s defiance to an end.

“It took some (guts) for him to step up and take that penalty,” Beckham said bluntly.

The early miss preyed on Donovan, he conceded after the game.

“When you have a moment like that you feel like you let the team down,” he said. “It sat with me until halftime.

“When the penalty came, I’m not going to fool anyone and say I was calm about it. I was pretty nervous. But you have to keep going. And every one of these guys, after that (miss) said, `Keep going, keep going.’ I was very appreciative of that.”

And ready to laugh about it after a come-from-behind win that led to a second successive MLS Cup victory.

As Donovan entered the postgame news conference, he was introduced initially as a Galaxy midfielder before the MLS official immediately corrected himself and said “forward.”

“Not after that first chance,” Donovan deadpanned.

So make that an MLS-record 22 postseason goals now for Donovan.

Make that five Donovan goals in six MLS Cup appearances.

And, most importantly, make that five MLS Cup victories, equaling the record set by former D.C. United and San Jose defender Jeff Agoos.

It was a championship game that encapsulated the adversity the Galaxy have faced this season, in which they overcame steep odds to triumph even when most thought it beyond them.

MLS Cup MVP Omar Gonzalez had Saturday’s tying goal, ending an emotional season that began with a serious knee injury even he was unsure he could overcome.

Beckham’s curtain call as a Galaxy player received a rapturous reception when Galaxy coach Bruce Arena hauled him off just before the game’s end.

Keane literally turned cartwheels with the Galaxy’s third and final goal Saturday, his sixth of the playoffs.

But it was Donovan, admitting after the game he essentially was burned out on the sport, who found a degree of redemption on this day no matter what he decides to do in the months to come.

“I have to listen to my gut and my gut says get away for a while,” he said. “I want to be closer to my family for a while. We’ll figure out the soccer later.”